Art Show gets Spent

Last night here in the culture corner of Queen street at the TOTA bar & lounge, I was honored to be able to take part in and share the evening with Spent family and friends. This night we were taking part in the Superheroes Invade Toronto art show created by the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture, with a portion of the evening's proceeds from the art sale being donated to support community art programs at Kapisanan. The theme involved placing well known superheroes like Batman, Iron Man, Superman, Wolverine and many more interacting in different landmarks in the city of Toronto. The four artist for the evening were proudly artists from Spent Pencils, these guys are not only mentors and friends to me, but my big brothers. The four artist are...

•Kevin Briones: The Go-Man himself! With a style unique and distinctly Kevin's, here's a guy that every aspiring comic book artist should look up to. Already 3 issue in and a fourth issue on it's way, Kevin is constantly working hard day in and day out. And if you haven't read it already, find copies of Go-Man at plenty of different stores located through out the GTA.

•Oliver Castañeda: This man is a beast with his art, this man should be the next president. He can draw anything you can possibly think of and he really loves any kind of art challenge. No seriously, anything you could imagine, like Galactus eating the Death Star while being attack by a star fleet. He can do it. And he can sing. That's pretty awesome too. 

•Paul Limgenco: He can make your jaw drop in more ways then one, through martial arts or the less pain and more awe inspiring way of bringing comic art to life, honestly his ability to bring characters to life is unreal through paint and expression, it's incredible. He's also the most photogenic one of us all. 

 •Vince Sunico: Bow down to the king of kings! If I told a younger version of myself that I would be able to work with a man as talented and as hard working as captain Sunico, I wouldn't believe it and I couldn't wait to actually get there. So much talent and amazing skill, and also a great mentor to me and many of the young pencilnecks. He got here through hard work and determination and with a little motto, big girls don't cry.

As you can see from these works, these guys are talent, and I think the most important lesson that I've learned from them is that any kind of skills or talent from them all stems from hard work, hours and hours into a labor of love. You have to have a passion and really love what you do, and you see it in there works. If you missed out last night, you can always meet them and all of the artist of Spent Pencils at many of the upcoming events that we will be attending, I will be posting the dates down below. And a big thanks to everyone who came out last night, to TOTA bar for being awesome hosts, to Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture for bringing this idea to life, and to Guerrilla Printing and Comic Book Lounge for the support. And of course another round for all the artist and the amazing work that was created. But also be sure to like us on Facebook, or subscribe to the blog here for more news and updates. If you have any questions or comments leave right below and I will get back to you. Also one more day of Anime North left, so be sure to go by the artist alley and see some of the amazing work by SP's anime master, Gen Ishihara. She's been working hard all month long and this weekend has been hell of a busy, so bring some coffee or candy and say hi. Also be sure to stay tuned here for more news and blogs for all art related things, this storm is just starting. Thanks again guys and see you soon! 

Links:

•  Kevin's SP Page
• Oliver's SP Page
• Paul's SP Page
• Vince's SP Page
• Kapisanan Homepage 

Upcoming Events:

• Bread & Honey Festival 2013
• Niagara Comic Con
• Con Bravo

The Black Adam Song...

Today I wanted to share with everyone a little play by play on a simple little sketch card. So if you don't know, sketch cards are pretty big in our SP circle. It's a great way to create original art for the fans, and there are a few collectors as well who enjoy having original works. The challenge being that on these cards your space is limited when compared to a large canvas or even a regular sheet of paper, so you need to know how to place your character and what to do with the space you have. But it's always fun to work on one of these in between different projects or commissions, they shouldn't take you anymore then half an hour or so, depending how much you want to do with the card. So I want to show you how each stage goes in the process of bringing a sketch card to life, and today's character is no other then Captain Marvel's main foe, Black Adam. SHAZAM! 

Step 1: You of course need to select the character you want to draw and then you need to choose where and how much do you want to show of said character. For this one, I picked Black Adam and I wanted to focus on giving him just a plain old super mean face, like this man is pissed. I didn't want to spend too much time on the pencils, cause a lot that would bring this particular card to life is going to be the inks. No point in wasting time on some lines that may not be seen, but of course you can totally choose to be more detailed oriented if you want to be, it's all up to you.

Step 2: Here is the first step in the inking process, go over the lines and makes sure to add weight to the lines to that you want to make darker to highlight more importance. You can also add more lines, like I did here on the face to add the emotion of anger in Black Adam's face. After you add most the ink over the lines you want, you need to erase the lines you don't need anymore. You can ignore this part as well if you choose to, but erasing the lines will give your card a cleaner look. 






Step 3: Filling up all the blank spaces on the drawing with as much as black as you want, this would also be time for color if you were going to do just that. In this case I wanted to keep it just to black and white, but I can totally come back to this piece and color it in later if I feel the need to. I also added a grey border around the character to give it a more in your face effect. But this is strictly a thing that I do, it's up to you to choose what you want to do with any and everyone of your pieces. 






 
And the final product after this is done may or may not look something a little like this, finished Black Adam.

Thanks everyone for checking this out, hopefully you enjoyed seeing the process of a sketch card. I want to ask you though, what character sketch card would you like to see me work on and I can post the play by play as well. So leave a comment below and let me know what you want to see done. 

Thanks again, to forget to subscribe and tell your friends all about this blog and to check out our Spent Pencils Facebook page, see you guys tomorrow.

The Road begins...

I want to start off with a notice, to everyone and anyone who doesn't know, in 3 months time it will be Fan Expo, the biggest geek fest in Canada and it will be my first time having a table with my incredible team, Spent Pencils. So yeah, kind of a big deal. What this means though, is that any sort of free time you thought I had, I really don't have it anymore, it's crunch time. And yes this means less natural sunlight and less partying, but at this moment I need to make my name known, and no one is going to do that for me but me, the time is now. But who knows, depending on how fast I finish projects maybe I can afford a day off or two, but looking at what's on my plate as far as work to be finished and the amount of content I want to push out by Fan Expo, not mention holding down a part time job on the side, my time is something I need to manage wisely. But know that my legend is only beginning and if you thought I was a pretty talented guy now, well, you haven't seen anything yet. 

I wanted to take this time now and lay out some goals for everyone to see and share in with me, I feel like this is a good way for you to keep track of what I am doing and for me to have an idea of what I will need to finish. With that said, these are just a few of the goals I have in mind...

•Finish and release an 8 to 10 page issue 0 of Glass Prison, my first self published project.

•Have the website for Glass Prison up and ready to be followed and prepare to have issue 1 ready.

•Have a weekly comic strip up and going, a slice of art life comic.

•Have ten different fully coloured prints available for sale.

•Be able to create a network of communication with social media for free random sketches.

•A personal business card, I need one of those.

We got big plans coming ahead, not only me but everyone in the Spent Pencils family, including a lot of new projects and new issues of current series that have been on going so far. And not to mention a lot of new fan art prints that will be available to you at various different shows and conventions during the spring and summer season, so be sure to follows us at these different shows and on the many different networks and websites. If you haven't by now, be sure to like us on Facebook and keep track on all SP related news. Also I will be posting the links to various different sites and pages you should be following, also look for me soon on YouTube. 

It's going to be a wild ride, but I will be sure to be updating this blog here more often, with news and also plugging various different artist and their projects as well. So tell your friends and be sure to follow up daily, the road starts here, lets get going!

Links:

• https://www.facebook.com/SpentPencils
• http://spentpencils.com/
• http://www.maddsketch.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/user/maddsketch

Check this pages out, and tell your friends! 

Capital Punishment, Spent Style

This weekend I got the chance to go on a road trip to Ottawa with my art family Spent Pencils, this marking my first big road trip with the crew and my first big convention out of the general GTA area. Now granted this is going to cost me more then I may make, but honestly if I was in this business just for the money, I wouldn't be an artist. I know I am starting and I know my place in the large vast art world, I need to have patience and use this time to learn everything I can from my crew mates and other fellow artist friends, and learned I have. But I am loving this experience to grow and develop, and it's something every artist should enjoy. Take critic and suggestion with an extremely open mind and know your place, you may not be as high up as you think you may be. Honestly if I can give any real advice to young artist, it is to listen. 

But so far, I want to say thank you to everyone who came by our table and said hi, grabbed a business card and/or picked up some art from any of us here at the Ottawa Comic Con. Again thank you guys and gals for coming by, we honestly appreciate everyones love for the Spent way of art. Keep coming back at the next shows, we are only getting better and better. 

I must say though, Ottawa does feel like an upside down Toronto, everything feels out of place and a little further away then it should be. But I will say this, the downtown and the canal is absolutely gorgeous! And good on all the Sens fans for Sens Mile, we need to get our shit together in Toronto and make a Leafs Nation street. I hope the Maple Leafs can do the impossible and defeat Boston and have another round in the playoffs, easier said then done of course. 

Anyways, one last trip to the convention today and in a way it's going to be sad to leave, but it's the life that we live, after one show we got another to get ready for and on and on and on. Thanks for the memories Ottawa.

Do Busy Bees Fly...

Okay, so it's a little crazy how much you can do in just a few days.

I wanted to posted something from all the past days that have past by since my last post, but I am going to have to sum things up a little. You get busy living or you get busy dying as they say. And let me just say to everyone, take every chance life gives you. I know it's a simple philosophy but make the most of your time and have as much fun as you can.

Last Saturday:

A big thanks to everyone who came out and to Gauntlet Comics for having us at the store. If you missed Artist Day, we will back in the summer, so bring your sketch covers and your ideas and we will do it up for you. A lot of drawing was done by all of us at Spent Pencils and it was a full house of talent from the entire crew. I myself got to work on two different covers, a Thor cover with the current villain, the Godkiller. A great story so far by the way, so if you're looking for a great fantasy based comic, check out Marvel Now's Thor, an awesome read. I also did an Avengers cover, with goat Avengers. Yup, goat Avengers. I got to say it was a lot of fun to work on that cover, I may have to do one as well later on. So stayed tuned if you want your own goat sketch cover.

I also sold a few original sketches and my very first sketch cover from Uncanny Avengers. Again, thank you to all the amazing staff at Gauntlet Comics and all the fans who came out to enjoy in the art celebration. I can't wait to come back, a lot of love from Orangeville.

And of course, what kind of Spent Pencils get together wouldn't be complete without a trip to Denny's.

Last Sunday: Wrestlemania baby!

Now I don't know about you, but I had a blast watching this years Wrestlemania. And yes, you could be nit picky about some matches and outcomes, but on my end of the woods, I had a blast watching and enjoying the show with friends. A whole lot of snacks and food made sure we didn't go hungry during the show, and more then enough drinks to boot.

As I predicted earlier, the match of the night was without a doubt the Undertaker and CM Punk. But they also had the best entrances this year, with my vote to CM Punk for entrance of the night, with Living Colour playing him in. Another quick note, I felt that both main event sequels redeemed themselves from their first match ups. An awesome good time, I can't wait for next year.

Last Night:

It's not everyday that you get the opportunity to go see one of the greatest rock acts today out of the blue. But that's exactly what happened last night when I got the chance to go see Muse with three friends, with a big thanks to my big SP brother, I can't thank you enough.

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this show, I've heard plenty of different tunes from them but I didn't know how they would play live. Man, these guys were amazing! My one and only complaint was that I wanted the show to be longer. I never thought I would get the chance to see Muse play live, but when they come back to Toronto, I definitely want to go back and see them. And I highly suggest you go see them as well.

Well that's pretty much sums up everything so far, not to mention going to work, catching up with friends and working late on my projects with the SP family. Needless to say it's been pretty hard to find the time to sit down and blog, but when I can I will. So take note and get moving, we got to make the most of the time we have here and now. Get living.

Dave can't believe it's past 2 AM and everyone is still up. :P

Keep on Sketching...

I want to start something new with all the different sources of online media, something that allows me to sketch out things that I haven't or would never have thought of sketching, and also allows you, friends or new comers to gain totally free art work from me. I will post on Twitter when I am sketching away and I will be taking free request, now keep in mind sometimes I will be working away on different projects or commissions, but know that your drawing will be on it's way. But by all means, feel free to contact me on any of these different sources of digital online media, Facebook or Instagram, or even leave a comment as well here on my blog for any art request, and I will be more than welcome to sketch for you.

So what I did work with my first take on this kind of project was two different pieces on Monday night, I did a viking and one of the legendary stunt man, Evel Kinevel. Two subjects that are very foreign to me, but I think that's what got me interested in doing said sketches.

The first one here is the viking...

   

So with this piece I wanted to make him look as freaky as possible, a little scary as well.  A huge upper body and a tiny torso, the Superman body, if you will. I didn't want to go super detailed with the armor, being a sketch and all. A lot of sharp lines on this one, a trademark move that I really want to master. At first I wanted to give him long hair and a long sturdy beard, but I decided to go with a crazier kind of look, something that made him look more like a mountain nomad if you will. The darker armor and the spikes are just the additional touches to finish him up.

If you check out my Twitter page, you can see progress shots on the sketch and how it came to be. Another thing I wanted to give my viewers, the ability to see the magic be made. 

Now for my second piece...

This one is a caricature of Evel Kinevel. So some of the things here, tried to get the nose and the hair to stand out as much as possible. I hope that I got the look down as well as keeping the cartoon aspect of the piece altogether. This is another technique that I want to master as well, to draw cartoon version of people and have them know who it is. Let me know if you think I pulled it off or not.

So there you have it folks, remember to contact me through the various means of media and I will be sure to post them up. And also check out the Spent Pencils page for various new updates from all of us at SP, a lot of great work to be found there. Also be sure to keep note of our event page, Spring is starting up soon and we will be very busy, so check it out.

R3-invent

I am just giving a little update here on my blog and the first thing I am doing is giving this blog a new name, Storm Watch! If you don't know by now, I do go by the alias ChileanStorm, a crazy wild and unpredictable Chilean. I thought it was a pretty catchy name, so I am going to be using that pretty much everywhere, so that when you see the name, you know who it is. The one and only. Although it would be neat if there were other storms out there, like an ArgentinianStorm or a BrazilianStorm, a little idea out there for other aspiring Latino artists like me out there. Anyways, now you know, so let people know the new name of the blog, same old me but a brand new name.

So with that out of the way onto more important news and events that went down these past weeks.

I first want to let everyone here know about the brand new Spent Pencils website that is up and running, so go check it out right now at spentpencils.com and it is a beauty! A big shout out to Daniel Wong and Kevin Briones on the fantastic job on this site, it looks incredible! I'll be posting a lot of my work on there, so you can find all my work when you go to my page which is right here ChileanStorm Art. I will have links to both these pages on the main page on here as well, once I figure out how to make this place look more me then plain. Also while we are on the subject of Spent Pencils, a big welcome to our two new members, the lovely and super talented ladies, Joanne Seto and Tiffany Medeiros. Welcome to the Spent family! And check out and like our Facebook page as well, tell everyone who loves art and comics.

In other news, I had my first Hobbystar convention last weekend and it was quite the experience, I still can't believe how such a large room can seem so small when it's crammed with tons and tons of people. A great turn out, it's always awesome to see such a large crowd for the nerd community. A lot of great costumes, a lot of brownie points for those comic book costumes, keep up the great work. And of course seeing various different friends in the Toronto art scene, which again is another amazing community! It's great to see everyone working hard on different projects and how we can all help one and other out. It was a learning experience for me for sure, I felt a little unprepared by comparison  to some of my other fellow artist. But you live and learn, and I plan to be more prepared for the next show. I am still learning slowly the Photoshop art side of things, but keep posted, a lot of prints will be coming soon. And also I will posting more here to let everyone know in advanced when and where I will be drawing, so you can find me and say hi, getting a sketch card or pick up a print. So keep posted here.

Then I had to work all week. During March break. If there's something that can crush someones soul it's working at a tourist hot spot during the March break. But I survived. And as a great man once said, big girls don't cry.

So that's me, keep tuned here and be sure to spread the word, the Storm Watch is here.